The Regressed NoBody

I had never witnessed something like this. What Uito had shown me through his mind—his memories. It was a concept quite hard to comprehend and grasp. No...I just didn’t wanted to accept this fact. Even if I wanted to, it was just...questionably alien to me. Incomprehensible from my context and point.

I was apprehensive about the entire idea. An entire civilization, a race of different distinctive creatures which had different egos and personalities separate from each other, and a good level of intelligence to think on their own accord—simply not just relying on their natural instincts like wild beasts—which could at the same time converse as well, albeit barely and in a broken and twisted vocabulary.

But he had only shown me a little piece, not the entire picture. I knew there was more to them. But, for a race like them or the cephtalurians to exist...

Well, there were many different and peculiar things which we humans had yet to learn and confirm. While we have only had access to the mysterious power called mana for almost a century, we still have a lot to learn about what it actually was, and the creatures which started to appear sequentially when our world became enriched with the structure and power called ‘mana’.

It just went on to say that just how ignorant we humans actually were when it came to our understanding and ability to understand these phenomenon.

My gaze swept across the dark forest, the thickness of the white mist spread across the richness of the beautiful night which felt dreamy and mysterious and giving a creeping sense of horror, but was enough to make anyone’s sense of direction to be distorted, but thanks to the thalassalithion—Uito—moving close to me and showing me the way forward, I was able to not lose my way on our stride.

My eyes momentarily went to the two shiny moons which hanged in the eminence of the night sky, projecting a dim light down at us. Their elegance still transmitted despite the thickness of the canopies.

“How far is this village of yours?” I asked, carefully maneuvering from one tree branch to another. I had deactivated mind’s eyes a while ago, as the ability was placing a firm strain on my mind. Despite having an adamant control over the skill now, it still placed a strain over my body and mind if kept active for hours at end. But it was no problem for me regardless, there wasn’t a need for its activation, for now.

The thalassalithion cocked his head slightly in my direction, avoiding an enormous branch which lulled down like a serpent which had many spike like buds probing outward. “Just a little farther ahead. It shouldn’t be that far now.”

I was still astound yet again by how this mer-creature could converse with a such a refined vocabulary, hardly spoken or understand by a mere beast.

Uito’s eyes darted in front of us, as he leapt from a branch and took a hold of a vine and swung his body across to the next branch. His movements were nimble and precise, not generating any sound as he landed on to the surface of the enormous branch effortlessly and maneuvered forward.

“The place we were is quite a distance away from the village, and closer to the border which...”, he said, pondering over his next words, “...bet—ween our territory and the cephtalurians. So it might take a little walk from where we are, Diwo.” He said, giving me an almost apologetic smile with his eyes awkwardly held downwards as if he was at fault.

Di—what?

“My name is Jiwoo. ‘JIWOO’!” I sternly corrected the thalassalithion as he titled his head innocently toward me, holding my gaze for a moment as he leapt yet again.

“That’s what Uito said: Diwo.” He added with a wry playful smile as he increased his speed, as if he was doing it on purpose to avoid me.

I wanted to correct the mer-creature, but I thought it would just be a waste of time, energy and effort. So I dropped it.

I increased my speed as well and continued my pursuit behind the thalassalithion.

We continued on like this for a while, to be exact for an entire hour or so, before we finally arrived at our destination.

Uito leapt down from the tree branch he stood on and gestured for me to follow.

I did, as my feet touched hard soil and I saw the others standing close to a tree which looked quite run down and ancient in front of the majesty of the others which far occupied this forest.

It’s branches were broken from several areas and intersections, whilst there were countless wounds on its surface as if some ferocious beast had attacked it ages ago.

Uito walked closer to the female mer-creature whom I had seen before when I had just defeated that petit mer-creature. I think her name was Runda.

He slightly touched foreheads with her and then gave her some kind of instruction in some beast-like language—which I didn’t understood—which in response she nodded her head and walked forward with poise.

On the left side, a muscular and brawly mer-creature had his petit companion cradled over his back as he followed Runda deeper into the mist. He gave me a final wary look before turning his head back.

But the next moment I was left astound and perplexed. She along with her other companions disappeared into the mist which blanketed our surroundings. No, she didn’t just disappear, her entire presence and mana signature was gone, as if she had perfectly obliterated from the face of this world.

I stretched my senses far wide into my surroundings, trying to hear or sense even the slightest change, vibration or fluctuation in my surroundings or the mana, but...there was nothing.

It was dead in the night. No sound except for my breath and the crunching sound of the leaves being trampled beneath my feet.

What happened? I thought as I walked closer to Uito who stood a few inches away from the wounded old tree. He touched it's surface, his hand moving so gently over the tree’s rough bark as if he was caressing his own child, as a very pained and deep sadness shrouded his face and eyes, unlike his carefree air around him just minutes ago.

“Ya must be surprised,” Uito said as he twirled, withdrawing his arm back and peering at me who stood close to him.

I didn’t hide my surprise this time and spoke. “Where did they go?” I hastily looked around to understand what had happened in front of my eyes just moments ago.

Their figures had completely disappeared as they had taken a step forward into the mist. Despite the surroundings being shrouded by a veil of mist, I should still have been able to sense them, regardless.

“The village is beyond this barrier,” Uito said as he pointed forward, passed the old tree whose long branch fell down like an old lightning strike. After a moment of appreciating the sight of the ancient tree, he then moved forward—straight into the direction he had just pointed. I rubbed my eyes as I witnessed the spectacle unfold in front of me. Strangely half of his body was swallowed by some distortion in the space which opened up, releasing a strange yet beautiful ethereal light of teal and golden. He gestured with his arm as I stepped forward into that distortion in the space.

I focused all of my senses towards this barrier mentioned by Uito. There was a slight, a very slight and small distortion and imbalance in the mana around this area I had entered, as if it was housed in here somehow, but also maintained the normality of the surroundings to not show any change or difference in the subsequent flow and change of the ambient mana and how it willed and moved itself, creating small pockets and gaps. It allowed the ambient mana to move in and out of itself naturally, while maintaining its shape without causing any ripples or fluctuations to reveal the presence of the barrier, hiding the fact that there was a barrier here at all.

Even I hadn’t felt its presence until Uito had moved inside the barrier himself, or his companions.

Hesitant, I walked closer and closer and after another step, I felt my body being swallowed by some strange sensation as I crossed through the barrier.

It felt like a sensation similar to walking through a heavy chamber of steam with a tucking force from all directions, as my body pushed and pulled between the associative and organised mana around the barrier which it used to hide its entire presence.

Like a tug of war of mana with my presence which had yet to cross through in between.

My vision was stained by a very strong shade of white for a moment as I was overcome by a strong force which tried to pull at my body, and spit me back out, but at that moment, the crack in the space behind me restored itself and the mana which housed and had given shape to the barrier pushed me forward. With a nudge, I found myself being spat out on the other side of the barrier. When I came to be, I found all of the mist around gone with a refreshing floral scent which was nothing like the rotten smell of eggs in the area behind the barrier.

I slowly twirled and lightly tapped the surface of the transparent barrier—or where I thought it was—but I didn’t feel any distortion. Beyond it was a thick forest deprived of any mist which was as clear as the night sky which didn’t have a single star. I channelled my mana and my finger touched against the empty air, and the next moment into something thick, as it collided with something hard and brisk and my hand was pushed back with a sudden crackle of lightning and sharp air coiling around my fingers.

Interesting! I thought observing the barrier with an expression of amusement and sudden curiosity, the distortion had now disappeared from the space and I twirled and met Uito who was standing with Runda a few trees away.

I covered a short distance and asked. “Quite the convenient way of hiding the location of the village from any outside threats or predators.”

Uito’s lips slightly arched up into a grin on my praise, as the female mer-creature sharply kept looking at me with wry and deadly eyes, and ready to execute into combat if the need arises.

“Now, let us move,” Uito said taking the lead to show me the way forward.

After walking for a short distance, I found the soil around my boots becoming more damped the trees appeared to be more lusher and full of vitality in this area unlike in the area where the mist was—beyond the barrier. Then we finally reached the village of the thalassalithions.

I saw a large lake in the middle of the land which stretched for hundreds of metres with a path going down north, with water as clear as sapphire and not one ripple forming in its body, and there were countless trees growing out of them. The roots of the gargantuan trees were visible from above us I walked closer to the lake and saw my clear reflection in it, as there was a subtle and beautiful sheen being released from its depth which stretched down.

It felt like I was looking into an enormous mirror, except, there in the clear and beautiful water of the lake I saw many thalassalithions swimming and playing joyfully. The speed at which they were moving in the water was faster than that I had seen on land.

Even with my perception of speed, I was barely able to look at their figures before they disappeared from one spot in the water than to another. It was almost instantaneous.

But the thing which I was most awestricken by was that, the lush and tall grass which grew here, with tall trees having small hut like houses built inside them gave this place a subtle beauty yet made it look mysterious.

Long vines were lulling down from the tree at the lake gently touching its base with amethyst flower growing out of them, which shined beautifully in the reflection, with a shining cluster of light burning like fire flies in the night.

The sight before me looked enchanting, unlike the horror inciting misty forest with weird gut-wrenching adores.

This place had a flowery scent which touched the soul and calmed the body down.

I felt movement from behind me and saw Uito standing beside, looking where I was.

“This is our village, Jiwoo.” He said, his face looked extremely tranquil as his eyes displayed a sharp maturity, unlike his child-like behaviour before. “Let me take you to my hut.”

Afterwards, I was led to a hut like house inside one of the many trees which grew to miles ahead, and unimaginable high. Along the way, many eyes followed me from behind.

Curiosity, apprehension, fear and many other emotions were displayed in the eyes that followed me from the moment I had entered the village.

I saw small thalassalithion children playing several meters away on the land close to the lake, some swinging with vines and making joyous noises of delight. Some thalassalithions, around the age of a human teenager were leaping from one tree to another and some performing some form of attack pattern, while others trained in mana which I found rather curious about.

I climbed on top of a tree’s root which led to the hut which was on the tallest tree located between the thick and sturdy branches of the tree, it was supposedly the tallest and biggest hut in the entire village, as far as my eyes went.

When we reached the door of the hut which was made from leaves and branches of the trees, and thick giant green leaves working as doors and support for the hut, with a small rough shaped bucket full of water placed beside it. I stopped in front of the hut where I was met with two thalassalithions—one male and the other female—standing guard outside of the hut with calm expressions, sitting on the floor.

There were scars all over their bodies as if they had fought many great battles in the past, leaving those several marks as some reminder from those battles, like trophies. But the male mer-creature’s eyes were pale white unlike their beautiful shade of sapphire.

Both of them stood, imposing a cautions and assertive aura. Uito held up an arm, taking that moment to dismiss them. Both of them knelt before him and bowed their head in respect.

“Come along.” He stated as he pushed the leaves working as the doors and entered the hut.

I entered right after as I exchanged a glance with the female thalassalithion. Her hostile gaze made me want to sigh. Well from their point of view I was a complete stranger and a being different from them in biology, so it was right of them to be wary of me, as much as I was of them.

But I needed to be more cautious than before. Right now I was in their territory. And they had a great advantage in numbers.

The inside was just as plain as I had thought. There were mats made of leaves lying on the floor with columns and cracks in the hut to allow the weak light coming from the lake down below to cross through to the inside. I saw a small beacon laid in the middle of the hut to illuminate the inside, as I studied each item inside the hut, my eyes moving like a hawk’s. But my eyes swept across the thalassalithion’s hut and went to a female thalassalithion sitting inside the hut in the farther corner, playing and giggling with a child in her embrace.

The expression over her face was almost heart warming. The mother caressing her child took a step back defensively upon my arrival inside, gently cradling her child in her arms as she saw me. The child giggled in its mother’s embrace ignorant of my presence or what was transpiring around it.

My lips almost turned up into a weak smile as the facade of indifference tore from my face momentarily, as a strange melancholy emerged within me for some reason, witnessing the mother caressing and worrying for her child more than she could for herself.

Her protectiveness was something I could barely come to understand despite having accumulated many experiences over two life times, but not at the same level of a parent or mother would.

‘It’s strange!’ I thought. I could still remember vividly just how many times I had asked the question about my birth mother’s existence to myself on the fingers of one hand. I didn’t even know or remembered my own birth mother’s name and face. Yet here I was thinking about her again.

I didn’t feel any contempt for her for abandoning me as a child, neither did I ever resent her for it. Well she must have had her own reason to abandon me, I guess. It was because of her abandoning me that I was able to meet Master. But why did I, from time to time, had my mind fixed on this particular question?

I guess it was only natural for a person to want to learn about their origins. But yet again, I had Master and Fujimoto, even Jihye now. And I couldn’t ask for anymore than I had already received.

Taking that moment, I allowed those feeling that were welling up inside me, gradually like an old nasty wound opened, and bottled them up in the deepest part of me. I didn’t need unnecessary emotions to obscure my path right now.

I have left everything behind to come here, to this place, in order to become stronger. Strong enough that those casualties from the past don’t repeat themselves any longer.

“It’s fine. He is our guest, Rio. Calm yourself. ” Uito said as he assured the thalassalithion with a wave of his hand.

Rio nodded and slowly stood up with the child still in her hands and moved out of the hut with Runda by her side. Runda gave me a sharp look before walking outside with Rio. My eyes still indifferent to her gaze.

“Come, sit, sit “

I sat down beside the glowing beacon and Uito on the opposite side to me. My eyes momentarily went to the beacon illuminating sapphire light to brighten the inside.

“Your kind is quite like what mine is like, to some aspects, including a little bit of outer appearance ” I slowly said, my eyes fixed on the calming light. “But, I guess, yours still lacks the ability to fully converse with words alone,” I ended with a cautious expression, as I met Uito's gaze. He smiled back with his eyes serene, trying to be understanding of my position.

“Well, yes,” the thalassalithion said after a moment. “Even among the entire village, alone I am able to converse this much verbally, without having to communicate through our minds.”

“But I have been trying to teach the children and others as well, in the mean time, and so far only that child, Imeru, has been the only one to fully indulge in my teaching. Saying its more convenient to use mind talk.”

Mind talk? I scoffed inwardly, but didn’t show it outright.

“So you were taught by someone or did just come across it one day that, ‘I want to speak verbally, or something,” I asked, my voice laced with sarcasm and curiosity.

“I was taught by father, the previous head of the thalassalithions, been a ritual for years that the next head must learn to speak verbally. I don’t know the reason for that, but it has been a tradition.” Uito exclaimed. “But...”

“But, what?” I grew even more curious as the creature went on with his explanation.

“I don’t know it as fact, but I was just told stories when I was a child, it could be nothing but mere story after many years, but again...” Uito took a moment, to clear his thoughts then continued, “that very long ago in past, our forefathers met a man, different from us, but not, yet also very much like you, Jiwoo,” Uito pointed at me as a frown crept up my face. His lean arms rested down as his eyes took in the glowing light released from the beacon.

“What do you mean like me?” I apprehensively mused with the very most caution at the tip of my tongue.

“We were taught by him how to use that ability to communicate through our mind.” Uito ignored my question and continued, his story of his kind’s inherited past went on like an old ballad, or perhaps just some folk lore made through the passage of time. But again, it made more sense the more I heard.

“Generous and brave in his creed, kind yet stern in his teaching, maybe aloof from time when indulged in something. The man who also taught some of us how to speak, fight and use power called mana. We used to worship him like our deity, and saviour, who brought us a chance at survival against the Cephtalurians when we were weak and hopeless, when they slaughtered our kind, but now...”

Uito stopped all of a sudden when the story was coming to its end. His eyes quivering for a second as he sighed over his words for a moment. “But one day he just disappeared without leaving a trace. As if the world had erased his presence thinking it was time.”

The thalassalithion looked saddened. “We searched high and low, but no trace left.”

Uito’s head lowered as he took a breath, his brows knitted as he rested his arms over his elbows. His expression made it seem he had some question which he wished for to be answered from the longest of time, but, his face cleared up the next moment with an aloof almost nonchalant expression, like he didn’t even have a frown before.

But this time it was my turn to be surprised. As Uito mentioned. The story he told me, their forefathers were taught by some man. I found a slight frown creasing my brows as I looked at the thalassalithion for any traces of lies, but their was none. Neither in his tone or over his face. He was telling the truth.

But can mana beasts really learn to talk just because they were taught from someone. And their ability to fight...well if it was self-taught then it would have been an amazing feat to see, but now I understood how they could fight so brilliantly and precisely.

But what kind of monster was it that taught these guys and gave them the ability to use such precise ability to use mana. It was kind of mind boggling.

“But I saw you guys using only the wind mana?” I asked. “But you guys seem to be relatively close to fish creatures than any other? So shouldn’t it be water?”

With a smile over his face he answered. “Well, the story also told this, that man used all four power from mana. He could easily summon thousands of soldiers, who rose from the earth, even to give life, command water to his will to give essence, produce a great warmth from fire and bring serenity from wind. He was hailed as god. A being who couldn’t be comprehended by mere words.”

‘All four elements!!!’ I placed my hand over my chin in thought.

But Uito said he was similar to him and not, yet also to me. Could he be a human? But no human as ever been able to wield all four elements due to the probability of having an affinity of wielding elements having a closer affinity to each other. And the person having an affinity for mana also varied in that aspect, and greatly affected his conduct.

But even in the first place, even if by a slight chance that he was human, then how did he come here? I was only able to arrive here due to the portal that the system had given.

Could it be that, someone had a similar system like mine and also the ability to—...

But I was brought back for my chain of thoughts by the voice of the thalassalithion.

“Our original affinity was affiliated with water, but after generations of wielding power and fighting against the Cephtalurians, one of our ancestor learned to use the power of wind when we had become perfectly adapt on land. After that he adjusted that power to work in combat, but it took a great trial and error.”

I nodded in understanding. Of course, the instinct for adaptability was something that every creature in the world possessed. You either adapt to your surroundings or a situation or died.

“But Uito, could you describe his appearance? That man’s, I mean?” I quickly asked with a questioning tone.

But the thalassalithion shook his head looking at me.

Could he show me through his mind instead.

“Jiwoo must think, I could show him through my mind...but, it takes a very big toll on our mind to concentrate our small pool of mana we possess to completely concentrate and stimulate our mind to transmit our memories to someone. Between us, its possible, but to share and match the wavelength of your mind is hard to grasp, so it has a big burden.”

“Some have even died from doing it without taking caution, and abusing the power.”

What? My brows knitted at the thalassalithion’s guess. Was it written over my face what I was thinking?

“No its fine. I think I get the gist of it from your explanation.” I said, with a shake of my hand. But I did feel somewhat tipsy for the first time, after having shown the cephtalurian by Imeru.

Oh right.

“Uito, what are those creatures called the cephtalurians?” I deemed answers from the thalassalithion. “Imeru did show me a little through her mind, but I want to hear it from you.”

I needed information in order to continue on and this was the best moment in which I could. He was even willingly giving the answers I wanted.

Just as he was about to answer, the thalassalithion from before entered the hut—the male guard standing outside. His stride came to stop right behind Uito and he took a quick and respectful bow as he whispered something in Uito’s ear with in beasty snarly voice.

A frown took a hold over Uito’s face for a passing moment, but he nodded his head and dismissed the guard.

He then stood and spoke. “Jiwoo, forgive me, but I will have to leave for now. There is an important matter I must attend.”

“Alright.”

“I will answer your remaining questions after coming back.” With that the thalassalithion left the hut with the guard behind him and silence descended.

My gaze tore from the back of the thalassalithions leaving the hut, as I gathered my thoughts and began to form answers for the questions which were forming inside my mind.

From the story of that ‘man’ to their ability to fight.

But my main focus was clearing the trial and ascending forward.

I stood up and slowly walked out of the hut. As I exited, I saw the female guard still standing post outside of the hut.

I guess even they don’t want to risk leaving a complete stranger all alone. I almost scoffed but without giving any attention to the thalassalithion, I walked to the edge of the hut and on to a thick branch which lurched forward unevenly.

The soft and calming glow coming from the enormous lake down was beautifully illuminating the village.

In that moment my mind went back to the point where I had empowered leap to escape.

I took a breath, reaching the skill and empowering it and giving it life with my mana. The power bloomed forward, as it reacted to my will and intentions. The entirety of the village was covered by the pathways which stretched as far as my eyes and senses went. The wormholes burned with essence, as if waiting for me to grasp them and use them right away.

But I stopped there for a moment. I took a moment to examine them carefully, very much. The wormholes burned with power and information as I reached out to them. Feeling and sensing them as I did now, but their was the same obscuring force I felt, no, rather an uneasy nudge like my connection with the paths itself was unstable and rigid.

Their range was still cut short the same as they appeared unstable and quivering. I began extracting the information needed from the paths to make a leap. This time I didn’t stop there. The range may have been cut short but it also meant that I was lacking something in using the paths here.

As If I needed to do something. The paths were ready to transport me, but it was me who was not.

Series of black lightning began to coil around me as I felt the gaze of the female thalassalithion from before. Ignoring her, I continued, my body felt like it had been charged with static as my hair stood, as the sharp lightning kept on crackling and coiling around me, but as I was about to step forward and leap, my connection with the paths became unstable again, almost crumbling, to the point of collapsing and diminishing the path forward. As if the destination between the location I wanted to reach had been obscured and distorted.

A frown crept up my face as I slowly released my grasp over the skill. The lightning withered and sparked away as the paths disappeared from my eyes.

I think I would need a little trial and error on this to understand.

But it was the first time since my regression that the paths have reacted like this to my understanding and ability to use them. It did happen in the past when I had first acquired the skill and used it a few times, but not to this extent. It felt like I had gone back to that time when I had just acquired this power and was trying to use it for the first time.

Well what can I do anyway. If I was lacking something I just needed to find out what it was and improve it. Leap had always been an indispensable skill in my arsenal since I acquired it. I even had gotten out of some risky situations thanks to its help in the past.

I sat down on the branch and enjoyed the refreshing breeze running past me.

I opened the system interface to look for any clues, and looked through my stats and abilities. Then opened the inventory section, but then a window popped open in front of me all of a sudden.

----

THE TRAIL INFORMATION GENERATION IS IN PROGRESS! PLEASE BE PATIENT!

----

I curiously looked at the window, taking my time. The system really liked taking its sweet time in these moments.

But there was nothing I could do in situations like these. Until the contents of the trail aren’t released, I would just be stuck here.

But wasting time wasn’t my thing. Its better to train and understand my powers and get a better hang of them.

And here in the trials I had all the time I needed. Even if I went back now to my own world, what would I be even able to accomplish with my current strength and influence.

At best I was only stronger than an rank hunter on the intervening stage, or a little bit above with all my abilities and experiences. At the every least I needed my strength to reach equal to an ranker’s as soon as possible. The gap between the rank and the rank was equal to the gap between the sky and the earth. An ranker alone could take on seven rankers and defeat them with a little exertion of their strength.

Well the rank and strength barriers and differences were pretty rigid and wide in their own ways.

That was the only option I had, depending on the monsters still existing and breathing. I needed to rival and surpass their power.

I needed to do anything in order to regain my strength as soon as possible.